Rasch models suggested the satisfactory psychometric properties of the World Health Organization Quality of Life—Brief among lung cancer patients

Abstract

The study examined whether the items of the World Health Organization Quality of Life—Brief questionnaire can assess its four underlying domains (Physical, Psychological, Social, and Environment) in a sample of lung cancer patients. All patients (n = 1150) were recruited from a medical center in Tainan, and each participant completed the World Health Organization Quality of Life—Brief. Several Rasch rating scale models were used to examine the data-model fit, and Rasch analyses corroborated that each domain of the World Health Organization Quality of Life—Brief could be unidimensional. Although three items were found to have a poor fit, all the other items fit the unidimensionality with ordered thresholds.